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It’s the best-selling distilled spirit in the world, and you’ve probably never heard of it. But it’s poised to make a splash in the US, and it’s time you learned about China’s favorite form of booze: baijiu.

Feitian Moutai Baijiiu
What It Is: Though you’ve almost certainly never had it, baijiu (pronounced bye-joe) is not an obscure beverage. It’s actually the biggest-selling spirit in the world, thanks to one very large country: China. Now reps for the potent white liquor are targeting stores across the U.S., hoping to land it a spot on the shelf next to high-end whiskeys and Cognacs.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit the People’s Republic of China in a monumental effort to open up what had been a cold relationship between the two countries. Premier Zhou Enlai and Nixon toasted the new beginning with baijiu, a drink that helped break the ice and bond the two disparate world powers when almost nothing else could.